Show J. J FAMOUS HEADLINE EADLINE ICU HUNTER TER r y ILl fl C CL L nun nunA ll body MU MUA A A Twenty Dollar Bill By FLOYD GIBBONS T THERE HERE are some things that money cant can't buy but there but there are lots of things that you cant can't buy without money This is the story of the money a man didn't have and how the lack of it almost cost him his life And its it's the story ofa ol of ola a twenty dollar bill and how it came to the rescue of Ignatius Ignatius Igna Igna- tius taus Craig of Bronx N. N Y And when I tell you ou that Brother Craig produced that twenty smacker smack er note at a time when he didn't have twenty bucks to his name well name well that just makes it all the more puzzling As a matter of fact it sounds just plain impossible But heres here's the story and you can judge for yours yourself ell For six years Ignatius Craig owned and operated a grocery store And in that grocery store on a bitter cold night in November 1932 he had the adventure and the twenty bucks he didn't have In Came the Two Holdup Men l It was late in the evening The last customer had left the store and he was getting ready to close up He stepped out out from behind the counter to lock the door but before he could reach it two young men walked in One of them stuck a a. gun in hi his side and hissed Get into the back back room room and and if you want to live dont don't try any funny stuff And he did as be he was told Then while ono one of them held the tho gun on him the other took the money out of the cash register There Ther was only thirty dollars In the register The second bandit looked at it and cursed Says Ignatius Craig As a rule during the day I would take the money out of the register and hide it in some part of the store just in case there was a hold holdup That day I had paid a sixty-dollar sixty grocery bill so the cash in the register was every cent I had But the bandits must have known of or suspected my trick of hiding money Gave Him Ten Seconds to Produce The fellow outside now came into the back room He walked over overto overto overto to me stuck his gun in my side and said Where is the rest of the I y 1 y i 1 c You Wont Won't Be the First Rat Weve We've Shot dough The other fellow pushed his gun in n my stomach Well We'll give you ten seconds to make up your mind he snarled Then i if you dont don't tell us where the rest of the money is well we'll shoot you like a dog I 1 shall never forget the looks on those thugs' thugs faces I knew they would make good their threat if I didn't produce more money But there was no more money in the store Five seconds ticked by while I stood like a statue terror-stricken terror and afraid even to breathe Then the first crook said You wont won't be the first rat weve we've shot either cither And dont don't make any false moves or one of these guns might mie-ht go off oft oft- before your time Is up The clock ticked off of a few more precious seconds Still I held beld my breath I Iwas Iwas Iwas was in the worst predicament of or my J life e. e Yes Yes Ignatius Ignatius Craig was ir in a n spot spot and and well he knew it I If he could only gain a little time His voice shook so badly that he could hardly get a word out of his mouth but he tried as best he could to explain explain ex plain why he had so little money mone in the store He even offered to show them the receipted grocery bill he had paid earlier in the day But all allt t the e answer he got was another poke in the ribs from rom the muzzle ofa of ofa a revolver Useless Plea for Mercy l The terror in his heart was too much for him then and he broke down completely Im a married man mm with a wife and kid he cried Please Please for for Gods God's sake sake sake-don't don't dont shoot Im I'm me telling the truth And the first bandit growled were not Interested in your wife and kid see We know youve you've got money here and you can produce it or it'll Hll be just too bad That sounded like a a. death knell to the helpless captive How flow he be prayed that a customer would walk in These men had bad murder murder murder mur mur- der in n their hearts and if it he didn't produce money he was was done for tor Yet he knew there wasn't a a. dollar in the place One of at the men said Ill count up to three Then if you dont don't talk you'll get plugged The other one said never never mind the countIng counting count count- ing Jack Lets Let's give it to him right now And then suddenly Ignatius Craig Cr had an idea Understand he knew there was no money in the store And 1 know there was no money in that store Both of us will swear it on ona ona ona a stack of bibles as high as an undertakers undertaker's hat But nevertheless he said Wait a minute I have money Theres There's a twenty dollar bill hidden under a can of tomatoes on the shelf shell right back of at the cash register The Bill Satisfied Them Then Them Then One fellow nodded to the other They marched their captive out of the back room and made him point out the can One of the men lifted the can picked up the bill beneath it it glanced at it and put it itin itin in fn his pocket The thugs pushed him into the back room again andone andone and andone one of them said We ought to shoot him anyway But the other said Weve wasted too much time already ady Leave him alone and lets let's get going Then they pocketed their guns and walked calmly out of the store apparently satisfied at g that extra twenty dollars that Ignatius Craig swears rears to you you and and I swear to you you that that he didn't have A call to the police brought no results The two men were vere never caught Ignatius Craig sold his business a short while later because he was afraid those fellows would come back You see all those bandits ban got was the thirty dollars In the register Craig told the truth when he be said he be b had d no more money The twenty dollar bill under the tomato can was a counterfeit one counterfeit one that hed he'd been stuck with and wanted want ed cd to keep separate from the real money in the cash drawer Bad money he be says is Js usually hard luck to the one that gets it but it-but but not always Ill I'll swear to this day that my life lic was saved by bya byn a n counterfeit twenty dollar bill blU y y ya Service |